


Backlash

by yeaka



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 07:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13853346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Ardyn checks on his latest catch.





	Backlash

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Fill for anon’s “Ardyn tries to convert Prompto is an MT. Problem is MTs are all networked together for efficientcy's sake and Prompto is tenacious little fucker, so instead of turning into one of them, they start becoming more like him. ++++I will give up a kidney for a scene involving MTs whistling the chocobo song okay?” prompt on [the FFXV kinkmeme](https://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/4747.html?thread=9136523#cmt9136523/).
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy XV or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

He strolls down the hallway with a bit of an extra skip in his step, though Loqi, the poor fool, had nothing good to report. He took his punishment well. And Ardyn’s still glowing from it. More importantly, he’s full of rippling anticipation over the _other_ young man he has at his disposal. The procedure should only take another hour or two, and Ardyn plans to have fun with his adorable little captive _before_ the final switch is flipped. After all, torture’s no fun at all if the victim is too lifeless to feel it.

By now, the conversion should be well on its way. The prince’s dear friend should be sufficiently devoted to his new master, wholly compliant and obedient to every one of Ardyn’s whims. But still _free_ enough to feel pain. Ardyn knows that he’ll enjoy that. It’s just a shame he didn’t have the time to inflict all his planned horrors before the procedure even started. But life in the Empire rolls on, and there have been plenty of other tasks to see to. Still, he does have the faintest tinge of regret. It seems a shame to completely stamp out such a tenacious little deviant completely. The next time Ardyn catches one of Noctis’ beloved friends, he’ll have to be sure to enjoy their unbroken bodies for far longer.

The MT at the door needed no such treatment. It was ‘born’ soulless, and it doesn’t move a muscle as Ardyn walks right past it, pushing open the heavy lock and into the closed-in laboratory beyond. He takes two steps into the room, then putters to a halt. The tall machine on his left is still whirring, aglow and flashing. But the rack where it’s meant to be hooked up is empty. Wide-open shackles lay across the tiled floor. And there’s no body, not even blood: no sign of his plaything anywhere. 

A numb sort of shock sets over Ardyn, not simply out of true surprise, but because it’s been so long since anyone’s been able to truly _surprise_ him. When he opens the full breadth of his heightened senses up to the room, he knows that it’s empty. No one’s hiding in its shadows. His toy is truly _gone_.

With a deep—though ever unnecessary—breath, Ardyn steps back out into the hall. The MT that was supposed to act as a guard, despite the fact that Ardyn’s charge was thoroughly chained and bound, remains motionless. It should have the brainpower to do little beyond shoot any unauthorized personal that tried to pass it, but Ardyn barks anyway, “What happened to my prisoner?”

“It left,” the MT answers, blank gaze on the far wall. Its voice doesn’t sound _quite_ as automatic as it should, and Ardyn stares at its metallic face, devoid of all emotion. There’s something... _wrong_.

Ardyn asks, “How?”

The MT, in its usual pre-programmed drawl, answers, “Dude, I couldn’t leave the poor guy all chained up, that just wasn’t right!”

For a long moment, Ardyn just _stares_. The unit doesn’t move otherwise, not even to blink. Ardyn never bothered to check if the MTs were equipped with eyelids that could do so. 

And then, slowly, the horrible, chilling realization dons on Ardyn. The conversion failed. But it didn’t just _fail_ ; it must have backfired, and Prompto Argentum’s buoyant personality, so dynamic, so exuberant, so full of unbridled _life_ , must have fed back into the network, and corrupted the existing MTs in turn. Not only has Noctis’ beloved sidekick retained his humanity and escaped his destiny as Ardyn’s own personal drone, but the remaining drones must have become infected with such wild vivacity.

The entire base could be infected. For all Ardyn knows, every functioning MT currently in use could now harbour similar delusions of humanity.

Which means they’ll all need to be scrapped. The armies will have to start again.

Abruptly, Ardyn turns on his heel and storms away, only to stop in his tracks half a minute later and look back. The MT is now _humming_. And after a moment of puzzlement, Ardyn’s long-lived memory traces the tune: _the chocobo song._

Ardyn’s lip twitches. He finds it curling into, of all things, a _smile_. Hadn’t he thought that Prompto was a much too easy catch, and Noctis’ heartbreak brought on far too soon? This changes everything. Ardyn resumes his stroll, smirking now, because the game, once more, is on.


End file.
